The Intersection of Innovation and Contemporary Living

Smoke Filled Back Rooms

The thing that I find mildly offensive about the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray deathmatch is that consumer had very little say in the matter. Ultimately this format war has been decided not by what consumers find most appealing from a quality and cost standpoint, but by Wal-Mart, Netflix and big Hollywood studios.

I really don’t know if there are any advantages to one format over the other, but I would much prefer a marketplace driven approach to arbitrating the issue. While I am tempted to suggest that big box retailers are in effect a market, it would be disingenuous to make that argument given the undisputed fact that retailers care not what is best for customers but what they can make the most money from. If Wal-Mart and Netflix are capable of driving the market to one format over another, why would they care what is best from a consumer standpoint?

First, the movie studios moved decisively into the Blu-Ray camp, then giant American retailers like Wal-Mart followed suit.